


Broken Skin and Mended Hearts

by Andtheclockgoes



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Albinism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bullying, F/F, F/M, FACE Family, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, Mymindismadeup, POV First Person, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Mutilation, iloveyou, prucan, thereisn'tenoughfemprucanlove
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-22
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-22 16:35:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6086860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andtheclockgoes/pseuds/Andtheclockgoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Madeline Williams is tired of being being forgotten. Julchen Belishidmit hates her self in every way, but won't let anyone know.</p><p> Follow their story as they meet, and possibly fall in love.</p><p>【Previously The Tale That Time Forgot】</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Editing the first chapter...  
> my chapters aren't that good. :-/

_Invisible._

_That's what it all comes down to in the end. Someone who no one ever notices is all I'll ever be. No matter how much Alfred looks after me, no matter how many times Papa takes me in his arms while I cry, no matter what, It's what I am at the end of the day._

_No one. I can't live like this. I hate being pushed around, I hate not being called on in class, I hate that if I don't have someone who's known me for a while with me anywhere I go, I'm over looked. But it won't bug me anymore. Not after today. I write this sitting at my desk while Papa is making dinner in the kitchen, laughing and playfully arguing with Dad about whose day was worse. Alfred is in the living room, watching last night's episode of the Bachelorette, yelling at the screen._

_Please know that its not your fault that I'm doing this... Its just that i can't do this anymore. I don't want to live with the memory of what he did. I'm sorry._

_I love all of you._

_au revoir,_

_Maddie ♡_


	2. Chapter 2

I was going to do it.

I was going to take the leap of fate and let everything go. Let myself bleed out on the cold bathroom tile. But I stopped, and started to think.

What will happen when someone finds me? Its bound to happen. It'll be a terrible inconvenience to clean up the blood off the floor. Then the terrifying reality that it would most likely be Alfred who finds me. The damage done to his brain would be all my fault, seeing my honey blond curls in a wild halo around me, dark red blood soaking them, eyes open, arms uncovered for the first time in years, a multitude of scars and horrendous words carved into the pale flesh of my inner wrist. I can see his normal happy expression turn into a that of a terrified and unbelieving one.

I can see his eyes, a deep, electric blue, watering and wide as he collapses on the floor next to me, calling for Papa, for Dad, for anyone to pleas help _'God!'_

 His calls of my name,

_' Maddie ? Madeline? Canada ? Sis?'_

The sound of him crying and breaking down with my lifeless body in his arms, the sounds of his unstable and rapid breathi-

No.

 

I'm going to recover from this. I'm not going to let this rule me anymore.

" Madeline, Alfred dinner!"- Papa's content voice calls out to us-" I've made salmon tonight. Come down before it gets cold kids."

Tonight's the night I'll tell them.

 

\----------

Lighthearted chatter fills the space surrounding the dining room table, mostly mindless chatter about the day, until Al starts talking about his day, mostly gossip about the football team, but admits to something big.

" - So I have this really huge crush on this girl on the Figure skating team. She plays hockey to, Ivanka Braginskiy, tall, white-silver hair, huge boobs? Yeah her. You know her Maddie!"

Al happily starts to eat again as Dad starts choking.

" Oh yeah! She's really nice as long as you don't go around making fun of Natalyia or her older sister, the one who graduated last year... She's a beast on the ice."

I direct my comment towards Al, who takes this with the seriousness of a CIA agent.

Papa sighs, taking a long sip of his wine,

" And so it begins. Any crushes for you Madeline? Any boy you've got your eye on?"

" No. The male race doesn't interest me anymore. Looks like your going to have some competition with the girls now, eh Alfie?"

Papa, Dad and Alfred all simultaneously spit out their drinks.

" What happened to-"

" What about- "

" Oh. My bad."

I sit back, taking a small sip from my water.

" And uh- I have to talk to all of you after dinner, it's really important."

The shocked males nod, knowing that I rarely have to use the family meeting card.

\--------

" Madeline love, come down to the living room please. "

It's time. I can finally be truthful with my family.

" Coming!" I shout while shrugging on a long sleeved cardigan over my short sleeved t-shirt, pocketing the note.

The room is quiet,quieter than its ever been.

" And now to commence the Kirkland- Bonnefy Jones Williams household family meeting. Maddie, the floor is yours."

I take a deep breath as I start reading parts of the note.

Dad is in tears by the end of the first part.

I continue on.

Now Papa is too. Half way through now.

Al's in shock.

" I love you..."

We sit in silence. The soft sobs of my English father surrounds us. Inhaling again, I take of the cardigan, tiring my wrist in.

" I was going to end my life today. I was going to kill myself. I didn't know what to do anymore and I was tired of living life as this-this meaningless, ugly, waste of space-"

I stop to breath, tears filling my eyes.

"I hated myself. I still hate myself. But the I realized what a selfish person I would be, leaving behind not only a family, a brother, but another chance at love. It's not you. After Carlos left, satisfied that he left his damage, on me, a broken shell of a person, this is the only thing I could think to do. I added on to the scars he gave me with his knife, emotionally and physically. "

I open my arms outwards, the scars being seen by someone other than me in two years. Al has his head in his hands, not wanting to look up and see anymore of what happened to me.

" I don't want to hide this anymore. I want to be able to wear these with pride, not being scared of you guys. Please just, accept me for who I am, okay? I just want to know I can trust you. "

I drop my head and arms, tears forming in my eyes as I stand in front of my family. A strong pair of arms embrace me, and the scent of an apple pie surround me. The comforting sent of tea mixed burnt joins it, along with the sent of roses and the wind.

A shaky smile fights it's way to my face.

I'm finally free.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any comments? Thoughts? Anything that you found really nice?  
> -Nori


	3. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOULD YOU BELIEVE THAT THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN FINISHED SINCE LAST YEAR?? I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT IT.

 

I'm greeted with an angry Hungarian woman the next day.

Her usually mischievous green eyes are now clouded over with anger and hurt.

Some how spotting me in the crowd she marches towards me, waist length brown hair flying behind her, somehow not displacing the red flower placed behind her ear.

" How come I pretty much blew up your phone last night, I get nothing in return! Nothing! No call, text, tweet, snap, post, dm, facebook message, imessage, Nothing! Nothing at all! Explain yourself Mads. " She glares, medow green eyes narrowed.

 

" Good morning to you too Elizaveta. Here's your coffee, two creams, four sugars and an extra pump of chocolate. As for the not answering you last night, I was busy repairing my relationship with my family, thank you very much." I close my eyes, removing my glasses so I can wipe my face. " It's the first time that I've been able to laugh and talk and joke without thinking about /him/"

I place my pretty much empty mango and pineapple smoothie on the front step of the school and open up my bag to put my school issued socks on, along with a pair of black ankle boots.

Braddock World Academy is a private school that only accepts one student per country, so you have to be one of the brightest minds of your age group. Its makes it challenging that way.

The pleated skirt only comes up to mid-thigh and comes with over the knee socks with the country your represents flag on them. The shirts aren't /so/ bad, being white and long sleeve, covered by a black blazer, including a red and black striped bow.

In total, you look like an anime school girl. Which isn't /that/ bad... Until you leave the school and have people looking at you wierdly.

Elizaveta looks down at me, noticing my hesitant expression.

"Maddie darling, I there something you need to tell me? "

letting out a deep breath, I come clean to my bestfriend.

"I haven't been very truthful with you Veta. I- I cut. I started two years ago, after Carlos up and left leaving me broken and a shell of who I used to be. I'm sorry."

I look at the floor from my perch on the step. Veta drops her bag, coming to sit next to me, pulling me into a hug.

" It's alright. Just promise to call me if you get the urge. Or at least stay in the room with your family. Okay?"

I nod, hugging her back as she smiles a tentative smile.

"I think we should start heading to class now.. We might be late to first period..."

 

 

→♡←

 

First class wasn't anything special, but the highlight of it had to be Julchen. The tall beautiful loud and confident, albino girl who doesn't care what anyone has to say about her.

She came in 20 minutes late (Traffic was terrible) and even though she was in dress code, she had a smoothie in her hand.(breaking the no food in classroom rule)

Lovina, who came in late with Jules had a pair of sunglasses on, (not part of uniform) but came in angry, eyes narrowed and muttering profanities under her breath in Italian, English and - funnily enough- Spanish.

(Something about Antonio it seems)

And everybody knows that when Lovina Daisy Vargas was angry, /no one/ messed with her not even Teacher.

  
Even though she came late Julechen  
Answered every question the teacher asked her perfectly, and corrected him when they got something wrong, making Teacher's face red with anger.

  
(The daily class schedule goes like this:   
Roll, wait for Julechen to arrive, start the class, interuptions by Jules, rant, class resumes, another interuption, Teacher gives up, Julechen teaches, then the bell)

→♡←

  
The bell rings, interrupting Julechen's rant on how Teacher was teaching us in accurate information. I hurry out of the classroom, trying to be on time for my next class.

I make it to the locker room, where we have to change into the gym uniform, and the long sleeves of the sports uniform cover my arms completely. The shorts are still pretty short ( only coming up to /just/above mid-thigh) but I can deal. I tie my shoes again and head into the main Gym area where Coach Nonaka waits for us, her comically large rack jiggling as she does a set of jumping jacks, warming up.

The class slowly trickles in going to sit on the benches against the wall.

Seeing that we have all arrived, Coach gets a dangerous glint in her eyes, the brown darkening to almost black.

"Today is the start of our Volleyball unit, and you know what that means..."

The class groans, realizing we have to go through a physically and mentally exhausting workout.

  
"Today we'll kick off the class with a competitive game. Each winning team gets to skip conditioning for the rest of the week. Now I need two people to get the net set up."

She picks two boys that I've never seen before and hands them the key to the storage room.

"There will be a separate games. Girls vs Girls and Boy vs Boys, so don't get any ideas. Alright... Anya will be captain of team 1 for the girls and... Marianne for team 2. Anya, chose your team."

The pale Russian stands up and the boys shrink away, her 6'1 height and slightly creepy smile freaking them out.

She choses the energetic Hong Kong representative Ling Chen, the mysterious Norwegian Lovise Bondevik, stoic Swiss Heidi Zwingli, the always suspicious Chinese Chun Yan and me.

Wait I got picked?

I get up from the bench and and stand next to Lovise, who looks like she'd rather be anywhere but here.

Marianne chooses the crabby British rep Alice Kirkland, Greece's sleepy Athena Karpusi, the Estonian tech genius Emma Von Bock, Polish valley girl Felicija Lukasiewicz and the Lithuanian worry wart Daina Laurinaitis.

Coach, who had been helping the boys pick their teams, comes back.

"Looks like we're evenly divided... But Anya I told you to pick five people, not four."

Anya looks confused and points at me.

"I did. You no see Maddie? The Canadian on end? Madeline Williams?"

Coach looks to were Anya's finger is pointing and does a double take.

"Sorry Maddie! Didn't see you there. Well now that's sorted out, why don't we get this show on the road! Teams go get your padding on."

  
Anya pulls us to the side and assigns us positions to play while we pull on the protective padding.

"Maddie since no one seems to be able to see you, I want to you to play the middle blocker position in the front zone. Lovise, I want you to play right side hitter position. Chun Yan, setter position. Ling Chen, opposite position, Heidi outside hitter position. I will playing the Libero position, also known as the middle blocker in the back zone."

We nod and walk to the court, as coach calls time. Marianne's team walks out on to the court, getting in to position.

Athena is playing blocker like me, with Emma playing Libero behind her. Alice plays opposite and Daina is in the Outside hitter position. Felicija (who is current fussing over her nails) is the right side hitter, and finally Marianne herself in playing setter.

Coach Nonaka climbs up onto the viewing platform and blows her whistle, dropping the ball over the net.

Athena calls Mine, and team 2 has the ball. She passes it to Felicija, who hits it over the net and it comes flying right towards the ground.

"MINE!" I call out to the team as I side to floor, hitting the ball up and towards Chun Yan. She calls the ball, spikeing over to Lovise, who's powerful over hand attack sends it flying over the net.

"Dig, point to team Anya."

Alice seeing the ball flying in her direction tries to hit it towards Emma, but unfortunately doesnt hit it with enough force to make it the whole way.

 

The blue and white ball falls to the ground fast, not giving Athena enough time to dive and hit the ball, earning us our first point. They get the ball to start, so Marianne sets it towards Athena who is actually awake and paying attention for once.

The Greek teen hits the ball over the net, but with too much force so it goes out of bounds, flying over everyone's hands, although Anya's finger tips just barely grazed the ball.

" Point from team Marianne, ball to Anya ."

  
→♡←

  
We won the game 14-9. Although Ling Chen looks like she's about to drop dead on the floor. Lovise hasn't broken a sweat, silver blonde hair still in its loose ponytail. Anya, who had been taking her protective gear off, joins the team circle.

" Good job everyone. Everyone is very tired. I ask Coach if we will be dismissed from class early as the winning team, and she agreed. You will get in shower, the water is cold."

And with that she walks away, platinum blonde hair swinging behind her to the beat of her steps. Shrugging we join in her in the locker room to cool off.

  
→♡←

  
I actually didn't get caught in the post Gym class locker room rush for once. And for the rest of the week, I don't have to struggle with hiding my arms after class because no conditioning. All I have to do is show up and sit on the bench, not even change into the uniforms, and I get the grade.

Swing on my book bag and put on the right shoes, heading to the cafeteria, where Al sits scrolling through his phone, most likely on social media.

"Boo!" I whisper in his ear when I get close enough, and he jumps, squeaking.

I was right, he was on social media... Anya Braginski's page, from almost a year ago to be exact. I grab his phone, recognizing that was the picture Anya had tagged me in from our impromptu trip to a local strip mall.

"Al, I'm surprised that your stalking skills have gotten that good... Any better, and you'll be like Mama look at pictures Papa is tagged in... From four years ago. "

I hand him his phone back and plop down in the empty chair next to him, resting my forehead onto the table.

"I am never playing volleyball again Al. It's brutal! Brutal I tell you! Those girls are vicious."

He chuckles, patting my head.

"What do you want for lunch Mads? I'll buy this time. I promise! "

I look up from my dying position to see him standing, wallet in hand.

" You could get me a salad... Doesn't matter the dressing. And make sure there's no meat in it! You know how much I hate cold meat."

He nods, so I put my face against the table top. My phone buzzes from inside one of my book bags pockets.

Pressing the button to wake up the screen I see that Elizaveta had been summoning me.

I tap out a quick message as Al comes back, attempting to look nonchalant while carrying two lunch trays with "healthy" food on it, instead of the usual monstrosity of grease our school calls hot lunch.

"What? I thought I'd try something new today."

He's trying to make up for the lost time, trying to include himself in my habits.

It's touching, since I know he doesn't like greens that much.

→♡←

They're waiting for me when I get home.   
Papa is in the kitchen, making us something to eat instead of in the den where he usually is, yelling at the competitors on Iron Chef to 'pick up the pace'.

He sticks his head out of the doorless entrance and yells to Mama that he has to pick Al up from practice in an hour.

"You-! Why can't you pick him up frog? I'm almost done with the embroidery on my newest client's bodice. The woman took ages to decide on the pattern- "

He is absolutely livid, mumbling not so nice phrases under his breath at Papa all the while.

\---

"Maddieeeeeee do you know the answer to number 15 by any chance? I'm stuck and I know that my lovely sister is super smart~"

Alfred is laying it on thick, and I think even he knows it.

I look up from the book in my lap (Tales of Symmetry) and make grabby hands at the paper.

" What class Al?"

"Pre-calc."

I sigh and proceed fo tell him step by step how to solve the problem.

"Thanks Mads! Man are you a live saver!"

He shuts the door behind him, heavy footsteps leading to his room. I'm glad to be of aome help, which helps my self confidence, something I know I have fo work on.

Baby steps. I have to take baby steps.

I've started to fade again. Everyone here has larger than life personalities, and my quiet nature gets easily over powered.

And it stings a little, I'm not going to deny.

But it happens. We're all human, and humans make mistakes

But right now, I could use a hug. I place a book mark in the chapter I'm on, and get out out my room. 

I find mum in his studio, a white half beaded dress on the mannequin. He has a hand under his chin, the other supporting it. 

"Mum? Are you busy ?" I ask, standing in the doorway. 

He turns around, surprised to see me there.He brushes a bit of his sandy colored bangs out of his eyes. 

"Not really, why? " his accent is comforting, and it makes me tear up a little. 

"What's wrong love?" 

I hug him, burying my face into his chest as he wraps his arms around me. 

" I don't know. I just really needed a hug." 

I hear the small smile in his voice as he squeezes my shoulders. " I'm always up fpr a random hugs Madeline. I love you, you lnkw right? I'm so sorry I never noticed how upset you were." 

"I know you love me mum. Even if you don't remember me sometimes, I know you Papa and Alfred love me." 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Thoughts? Improvements?
> 
> \- Nori


End file.
